# @downinnadesert on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DbqvBFkGLm1
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/68801282-downinnadesert-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/997bad8aa8.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-08-05T18:01:17.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Down In The Desert🌵 (@downinnadesert) — https://gondola.cc/downinnadesert

## Caption

UPDATE on the Mesa neighborhood from Monday night.

The new part is what happened before police ever pulled up. Officers were called near Elliot and Signal Butte just after 7 p.m. on multiple 911 calls saying 59-year-old Perry Forster was assaulting his ex-wife and children with a shovel outside a home. Neighbors moved first. One of them grabbed a baseball bat when Forster came toward his garage carrying an ax, and during the chaos that same neighbor got the mother and the kids into a friend’s house to hide.

Security cameras up and down the block caught the rest of it. Forster walking down the middle of the street dragging the ax and screaming. Glass breaking. Neighbors say at least 10 parked cars had windows smashed, and people spent yesterday out there cleaning up their own vehicles and covering windshields with plastic.

When Mesa officers found him he was still carrying the ax. Police say they gave him several commands, he did not comply, and the encounter turned deadly. Officers and Mesa Fire tried lifesaving measures and he was pronounced deceased at the scene. One of the officers’ rounds missed and struck a parked car. No officers, no family members and no neighbors were hurt. Gilbert PD is leading the investigation through the East Valley Critical Incident Response Team, which is standard for these.

The people on that street made a decision in about four seconds that changed how this ended. Would yours have moved like that?

Via: FOX 10 Phoenix, AZFamily and KTAR

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#Mesa #Arizona #EastValley #ArizonaNews #DownInnaDesert

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 448
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- **Comments:** 27

## Tags

downinnadesert, arizonanews, mesa, arizona, eastvalley

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